The State of the Municipality Address and budget speech were delivered at the Ella De Bruin Hall in the Civic Centre on Thursday, 31 May.
Members of the Msukaligwa political sphere, the public and the media converged in the hall to hear the executive mayor of Msukaligwa, Mr Joseph Mkhaliphi, deliver his address.
According to the first citizen, the State of the Municipality Address and budget speech provide the municipality with an opportunity to provide a detailed account of their performance over the past financial year and to highlight key service delivery issues in terms of the budget and the integrated development plan (IDP).
Mr Mkhaliphi began his much awaited speech with demographic figures of Msukaligwa which he highlighted so the public could understand the kind of service that they must deliver with very scarce and limited resources.
The mayor went on to highlight the importance of building a local economy to create more employment, decent work and sustainable livelihoods.
“Msukaligwa continues to create employment opportunities for the youth and women through interventions, such as the expanded public works programme, community works programme as part of poverty reduction and employment creation initiatives,” Mr Mkhaliphi said.
The municipality will continue to support cooperatives and small, medium and micro-sized enterprises (SMME’s).
It has begun a process to ensure that Msukaligwa Local Economic Development Forum is revived as a structured forum for engagements on economic growth and development initiatives for the ultimate reduction of poverty.
Regarding water and sanitation, Mr Mkhaliphi said they have upgraded valves on the water network in Everest Park to optimise the supply of water in the area.
The municipality has also developed an indigent register to target households that receive an income less than R2 500 per month.
Mr Mkhaliphi went on to note that the municipality has over the past six years implemented strategic infrastructure projects to improve water supply and to ensure storage capacity to meet consumption demands resulting from increases in the population size, particularly in Wesselton and Ermelo.
In the financial year 2017/18, the municipality has installed internal water reticulation to address water challenges in the various wards.
Regarding the issue of potholes in roads, Mr Mkhaliphi acknowledged that it is a serious cause for concern and through limited resources, the municipality has managed to fix numerous roads though much must still be done.
The mayor went on to address the electricity issue, saying Msukaligwa has upgraded the 11kV switching station and the 11kV main sub-station in Wesselton.
“We built a 88/11kV substation in Ext 33 and installed 10 high mast lights across all wards,” he said.
Communities living on farms will be happy to know the municipality will work with power utility giant Eskom to ensure rural areas get access to electricity in the next financial year.
The sporting community was not left out in the cold, with the municipality upgrading sports facilities in Chrissiesmeer, Breyten, Lothair and Davel.
These include the construction of basketball, netball and volleyball courts.
On the issue of housing, Mr Mkhaliphi said the municipality is working hard to issue title deeds to low income households and has already handed over 2 200 title deeds in the past six years.
The budget is available at the municipal offices.
